Target normal sheath acceleration sheath fields for arbitrary electron energy distribution

Abstract

Relativistic electrons, generated by ultraintense laser pulses, travel through the target and form a space charge sheath at the rear surface which can be used to accelerate ions to high energies. If the laser pulse duration is comparable or shorter than the time needed for the electrons to travel through the target, the electrons will not have the chance to form an equilibrium distribution but must be described by a non-equilibrium distribution. We present a kinetic theory of the rear sheath for arbitrary electron distribution function f(E), where E is the electron energy, and evaluate it for different shapes of f(E). We find that the far field is mainly determined by the high energy tail of the distribution, a steep decay of f(E) for high energies results in a small electric field and vice versa. The model is extended to account for electrons escaping the sheath region thereby allowing a finite potential drop over the sheath. The consequences of the model for the acceleration of ions are discussed.